BETTER BIDDING by BERNARD MAGEE What does it mean? We are playing in spades – that was agreed after the first two bids. West has made a cue-bid to show the ace of clubs and after East has shown a control in diamonds with his 4♦ cue-bid, West Slam has cue-bid in clubs again. Why has he bothered to do that? Take a look at the auction shown; what is missing? Bidding No-one has shown a control in hearts! West seems to be suggesting that a slam might be on, but he is worried about the hearts; he probably has a weakness (Part II) there and needs partner to hold a control (either ace or king, or a singleton or void) in the suit. Thus, the solution is that with control Cue-bidding it is used as a slam-try; showing first- of hearts East can cue-bid it, but without round control of diamonds. control of hearts he should sign-off and ue-bidding is not easy and if at Some experts like to be able to show bid 5♠ all possible I try not to use it! immediately first- and second-round con- Here is the West hand: CBlackwood is much easier: it trols, but I believe this is unnecessarily gives you a specific answer that enables complicated and can lead to confusion. you to bid slam accurately. However, I I like to start by showing first-round West 1 finished last issue’s article by mention- controls first and then follow with ♠ K Q J 4 3 2 ing the types of hands on which Black- second-round controls, working my way ♥ Q 4 2 wood is not suitable. These are the hands up the ladder. The only exception to this, ♦ K Q 3 on which I will use cue-bidding – not as we will see later on, is when one hand ♣ A because I want to, but because I have to! is much weaker than the other (for ex- The three basic reasons for not using ample, responder after a 2♣ opening). Blackwood are: Note that you cannot cue-bid in You open 1♠ and hear partner respond trumps: a bid of the trump suit is a sign- 3♠. What next? You have a powerhouse: 1. Weak side suits – a suit of two or off (negative). 17 high-card points, an excellent six-card more cards without the ace or king. After 1♠ – 3♠ – 4♦, responder might suit and a singleton takes you past 20 2. The response would take you too now bid 4♥, which would suggest first- total points and adding them to partner’s high – usually this happens if a round control in hearts (ace or void). 10-12 you should certainly be hopeful minor suit has been agreed. Without a control to show, responder of slam. If you use Blackwood, what 3. Void suits – you won’t know which would bid 4♠. will you bid over a two-ace response? aces your partner holds. The answer is: you would not know! Weak Side Suits With East 1 you would want to finish in What is a cue-bid? 5♠ and with East 2 you would want to I try to avoid cue-bidding because it is finish in 6♠, but both have two aces! A cue-bid is a bid of a new suit at a so difficult, so when I use it, I use it for high-level when a suit has been agreed one of the three reasons mentioned as trumps; the bid shows a ‘control’ in earlier – and I want my partner to work East 1 East 2 the suit, that is, the ability to win a trick out which one. ♠ A 9 8 5 ♠ A 9 8 5 if the suit is led. You can show first- or ♥ 7 6 ♥ K 6 second-round controls: ♦ A J 9 2 ♦ A 10 9 2 As responder to a cue-bid, always ♣ Q J 3 ♣ 9 8 3 First-round control = an ace or a try to work out why your partner void. is cue-bidding (i.e. why didn’t he Second-round control = a king or a just use Blackwood?). The problem is that to make a slam singleton. viable, you need a control in every suit. West does not have control of the heart Opener Responder Take a look at the following sequence, suit and thus Blackwood is no good. 1♠ 3♠ for example: Instead, he starts cue-bidding, setting in 4♦ motion the auction shown earlier, as West East well as the second one shown on the In this auction the 4♦ bid is not needed 1♠ 3♠ next page. in a natural sense, as the spade suit has 4♣ 4♦ The two auctions would be: already been agreed as trumps. Instead, 5♣ ? Continued on page 9 Page 7 BETTER BIDDING continued from page 7 zling. Generally, in auctions where a minor suit has been agreed, you will be trying for 3NT, especially at Pairs. So if use Blackwood: the Key-Card version the auction starts 1♣ – 3♣ – 3♦, the 3♦ West 1 East 1 will tell you all about the trump suit. bid should be assumed in the first ins- ♠ K Q J 4 3 2 ♠ A 9 8 5 However, with various types of hands tance to be showing strength in diamonds N ♥ Q 4 2 W E ♥ 7 6 cue-bidding is much more accurate. and suggesting a 3NT contract. How do ♦ K Q 3 S ♦ A J 9 2 you know that it is a cue-bid instead? ♣ A ♣ Q J 3 When a minor has From West’s failure to bid 3NT over been agreed East’s 3♠. If 3♦ were not a cue-bid, West might bid 3NT after East’s 3♠, West East Consider this example: which shows strength in the suit for no- 1♠ 3♠ trump purposes. The fact that West con- 4♣ 4♦ tinues with 4♥ over 3♠ clarifies that he 5♣ 5♠ West 2 has been cue-bidding all along. End ♠ 3 What has West shown so far? He has ♥ K Q 3 promised the ace (or a void) in dia- Over 5♣ East 1 has no control in hearts ♦ AK Q monds and then his 4♥ bid could be and thus signs off by bidding 5♠, which ♣ K Q J 6 5 4 taken to mean that he also has the ace of is far enough – making eleven tricks will hearts – it is, after all, his first oppor- be easy. tunity to show a heart control. You open 1♣ and your partner responds However, that is not what West is try- 3♣. This is a similar start to the auction ing to put across: his plan is to cue-bid West 1 East 2 with the previous West hand, only this every suit, so that his partner understands ♠ K Q J 4 3 2 ♠ A 9 8 5 time you are even stronger; 20 high-card that there is no problem, other than the ♥ Q 4 2 N ♥ K 6 points, a strong six-card suit and a sin- one he actually has. When West stops in W E ♦ K Q 3 S ♦ A 10 9 2 gleton – wow! Slam is highly likely and 5♣, East should be asking himself: “We ♣ A ♣ 9 8 3 yet it is not so easy to bid. Many of us have control of all the suits, so why on would launch into Blackwood immedia- earth is partner stopping?” tely, and after hearing partner’s 5♦ res- West East ponse would curse our luck: we would 1♠ 3♠ be too high, missing two aces and with When you have agreed a minor as 4♣ 4♦ no way back to 5♣. your trump suit, you should bear 5♣ 6♠ What you need to do is cue-bid: in mind that partner might not be End able to use Blackwood. This time East 2 has a control in hearts, West 2 East 3 so slam has a good chance after opener’s ♠ 3 ♠ AK 6 Here, with all the suits cue-bid, there is strong bidding. With just second-round ♥ K Q 3 N ♥ 9 7 no doubt what the problem is. East should W E control in hearts, he bids to 6♠; holding ♦ AK Q S ♦ 9 8 7 4 consider that, had his partner needed only the ace of hearts as well as the ace of ♣ K Q J 6 5 4 ♣ A 9 7 2 one ace, he would have used Blackwood trumps he could try for more! but, if he needed two aces, Blackwood 6♠ is not fail-safe; after all West would have taken him too high. might not have the queen of hearts, but West East So, having worked out that West is the contract would still be a 50-50 shot, 1♣ 3♣ looking for two aces, East 3 bids on to making when North holds the heart ace. 3♦ 3♠ 6♣, whilst East 4 passes 5♣. Cue-bidding, however, does not give 4♥ 4♠ you all the answers, as you can see. 5♣ 6♣ How do you know how good your End West 2 East 4 trumps are? Good question, and there is ♠ 3 ♠ AK Q K Q 3 N J 7 no precise answer. That is why I like to This bidding sequence may well be puz- ♥ W E ♥ ♦ AK Q S ♦ J 8 7 4 ♣ K Q J 6 5 4 ♣ 10 9 7 2 SUPERSCORER West East Duplicate Bridge Scoring Program for Windows 95 or later 1♣ 3♣ 3♦ 3♠ Single or multi section/session o Any movement scored o Enter names using initials 95 4♥ 4♠ Prints Master-points o Uploads Sim Pairs results Creates HTML files £52 inc p&p 5♣ End From the Mail Order Service 01672 519219 Continued on page 10 Page 9 BETTER BIDDING continued from page 9 However, if partner can cue-bid, here showing the ace of diamonds, then you can use KCB and go on to the slam.